Question : Electrification Target of Every Household

(a) whether the Government has fixed any target for electrification of every household in the country and if so, the details thereof;

(b) the details of the schemes being implemented in this regard and the status of implementation of the same;

(c) the amount of funds spent for the said purpose during the last three years;

(d) the total number of households electrified so far along with the number of those yet to be electrified in the country, State-wise; and

(e) the steps being taken by the Government to complete the said work in a time-bound manner?

THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR POWER, NEW & RENEWABLE ENERGY AND THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR SKILL DEVELOPMENT & ENTREPRENEURSHIP

( SHRI R.K. SINGH)

(a) to (e) : Government of India had launched Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana – “Saubhagya” in October, 2017 with an outlay of Rs.16,320 crore including Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) of Rs.12,320.00 crore from Government of India with the aim to achieve universal household electrification by providing last mile connectivity and electricity connections to all households in rural areas and all poor households in urban areas across the country.

All the States had declared on Saubhagya portal that all the willing unelectrified households had been electrified as on 31.03.2019, except 18,734 households in LWE affected areas of Chhattisgarh. Subsequently, seven States namely Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Manipur, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh reported that 19.09 lakh un-electrified households identified before 31.03.2019, which were unwilling earlier had expressed willingness to get electricity connections. The States were asked to electrify these households also under Saubhagya. Out of these, 18.57 lakh households have been electrified up to 31.12.2020. Time extension has been granted to allow the remaining households in LWE areas of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand to be electrified by 31st March, 2021. Since the launch of Saubhagya scheme, 2.81 crore households were electrified across the country up to 31.03.2020. State-wise list of such households electrified is at Annexure-I.

There is no upfront allocation of funds for any State/District under Saubhagya scheme. Funds are released for sanctioned projects in instalments based on the reported utilization of amount released in the previous instalment(s) and fulfilment of stipulated conditionalities. Accordingly, Rs. 4,946 crore, has been disbursed as grant, under Saubhagya during the last three years. The State/UT-wise grant disbursed under Saubhagya, is presented at Annexure-II.

All the works under Saubhagya have been completed in a time bound manner within the stipulated timelines.

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